Seat cushion



y 26, 1970 B. J. PHILLIPS 3,513,492

SEAT CUSHION Filed Jan. 9. 1968 .E.. w T 1. 9 i l 5 7 INVENTOR 9/4 4 y (/05 Pl /4 1. /P5

ATTORNEY United States Patent M 3,513,492 SEAT CUSHION Billy Joe Phillips, Cornelia, Ga., assignor to Johnson & Johnson, a corporation of New Jersey Filed Jan. 9, 1968, Ser. No. 696,594 Int. Cl. A47c 23/00 US. Cl. -347 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A seat cushion defined by a union of a cushion fabric of a honeycomb weave and a face fabric.

The seat cushion in general use in the United States and used primarily as a ventilating cushion on top of an automobile seat comprises a coiled spring wire filler encased in a low cost cover of woven or knitted fabric. In this assembly, the coiled wire body actually acts as a spacer for passage of air between the fabric cover portions. The cover fabric is adapted to distribute the weight of the user over a wide area of the enclosed wire body whereby the latter will support such weight. The wire employed is usually of a single strand coil, with two or more coils being intertwined so as to form a spring cushion as a base for the fabric covers. This creates certain dissatisfaction due to the excessive stiffness and thickness of the cushion posing comfort problems in seating and creating an obstacle to easy entrance to and exit from the car. Furthermore, the wire is subject to breakage after constant flexing and the broken ends also present a hazard.

Should the cushion be exposed to moisture, the wire tends to rust, making the cushion substantially unstable. Moreover, the pressure of the single strand wires against the low cost cover material during use causes rapid wear of the latter by abrasion. Broken or loose wire ends also result in damage to the cover material. Additionally, repeated loading in one place tends to work the metal coils out of place.

The instant invention overcomes these and other disadvantages by providing a low profile ventilating cushion comprising a cushion fabric characterized by a honeycomb weave and having a face fabric joined to and covering one surface thereof.

The instant invention will be more readily understood with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a completely assembled improved ventilating air cushion as it would appear in use;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view showing the honeycomb weave pattern of the cushion;

FIG. 3 is a cross section taken along 33 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a top view of the ventilating cushion showing the face fabric pulled away from the inner cushion fabric, and

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of one embodiment of a terminal edge of the ventilating cushion.

With particular reference to FIG. 1, there is shown a ventilating air cushion 1 comprising a seat portion 2 and a back rest portion 3. The air cushion 1 contains a cushion fabric -4 which is shown in FIG. 2 covered by a face fabric 5 and a backing fabric, not shown, which are jointed together by stitching or heat sealing. The air cushion 1 may well be constructed without utilizing a backing fabric, in which case, the face fabric 5 may be heat sealed along its terminal edge to prevent raveling, or folded under and stitched or otherwise secured to the cushion fabric 4.

The cushion fabric 4 is shown in enlarged cross section in FIG. 2 and is defined by a honeycomb or waffle 3,513,492 Patented May 26, 1970 weave which is a particular construction forming squares or diamonds in the cloth resembling the cells of a real honeycomb. These weaves are made by floating both the warp 7 and the filling 8 to form ridges, with the center of the square being lower than the ridges. The back and the face of the cloth or fabric are almost identical. The ridges are formed by gradually decreasing the floats of warp and filling threads from the ridges. This general class of weaves can be modified by introducing one or two lines of, for example, twill weave between the warp floats or by introducing some other weave pattern to compliment the basic honeycomb construction.

The basic cushion fabric is constructed of a heavy denier synthetic monofilament. The synthetic filament utilized must be characterized by good flex life, resilience and strength. The view given via FIG. 2 is from the bottom surface of the cushion fabric 4 showing the interlacings 9 of the face fabric 5, which abutts the opposite surface of the cushion fabric 4. The heat sealing of the edge 10 is shown.

An enlarged cross section taken along line 33 of FIG. 2 extends in the direction of the filling monofilaments 8 and cuts across the warp filaments 7 of the cushion fabric 4. In actuality, the cross section cuts through the centers of the inverted pyramids or cells which define the honeycomb weave. This is readily seen in FIG. 3 as the cross sections of two cells A and B are defined by the filling yarns 7 shown in cross section.

The face fabric 5 is seen to be tied to the cushion fabric 4 by periodic regular interlacings 9 of a filament of the face fabric at the apex of adjacent cells of the honeycomb weave of the cushion fabric 4. This face fabric is composed of synethic filament which, in this instance, are fiat 1000 denier ribbon monofilaments and which should be defined by a synthetic resin which matches the resin defining the filaments of the cushion fabric 4 in order that the cushion fabric 4 and the face fabric 5 shall be compatible in shrinkage so that during finishing under the influence of heat or in use where heat is also a factor, the two components will shrink synonomously and, thus, preclude the formation of ripples or puckers, etc.

The honeycomb weave of the cushion fabric 4 provides a low profile air passage body medium for the ventilating cushion. The particular weave constructed utilizing a strong, resilient and even stiff synthetic monofilament of at least a 20 mil denier for its construction insures the desired ventilation during use without the necessity of bulky springs of metal or other materials. The particular weave provides a continuous pattern of alternating erect pyramidal and inverted pyramidal cells which have height or depth, as the case might be, and which maintain such third dimension by virtue of the weave itself coupled with the characteristics required of the particular monofilaments utilized to construct the particular cushion fabric required herein.

FIG. 4 reflects the periodic interlacing between the face fabric 5 and the cushion fabric 4. As was shown above, this interlacing is periodic and results as a warp or filling filament of the face fabric 5 interlaces a filament of the cushion fabric 4 at the apex of the pyramidal ridge 11 (see FIG. 3) formed as a result of the specific honeycomb weave utilized. This could also be accomplished with respect to a backing fabric (not shown) which could likewise interlace the cushion fabric 4 at its opposite face.

The face fabric 5 can be extended with the backing fabric, if one is present, beyond the edge 12 of the cushion fabric 4 and interwoven to provide a woven edge, as shown in FIG. 5 or, if no backing fabric is present, the face fabric 5 can extend beyond the edge 12 of the cushion fabric and its terminous can be interwoven to prevent raveling.

It has been stated that character of the filaments utilized in the honeycomb weave of the cushion fabric are of extreme importance. They must be composed of a synthetic fabric which has a high degree of resilience, a good flex life and good tensile strength. The filaments must have sufficient stiffness and resistance to elongation to maintain the honeycomb weave with the pyramidal construction which is an integral feature of the instant ventilating cushion. They must also be composed of a resin having resistance to heat such that the softening point of the filament or the resin will not be reached by the heat resulting from summer sun beaming in on the ventilating cushion. Additionally, it is desirable that the materials in the ventilating cushion do not have water absorbing properties. Present commercial ventilating cushions do utilize materials which are easily wetted and which retain moisture for long periods of time and thus evidence undesirable results. The present invention combines both non-wettable filaments and a honeycomb or waflie weave which combine to insure that the instant cushion does not exhibit water or moisture retention properties. Of the synthetic compositions available, the poly-u-olefins are preferred, polypropylene and polyethylene being most preferred.

Monofilaments are preferred for the construction of the ventilated cushion of this invention since properties of resilience, good tensile strength and good stiffness are essential and a multifilament yarn, by construction, diminishes the strength of these properties which may be in evidence in the resin constituting the filament, since the denier of the filaments is necessarily small.

The denier of the monofilaments comprising the filaments of the ventilating cushion honeycomb are at least to mil since monofilaments of this size permit exhibition, in suflicient magnitude, the inherent properties of resilience, stiffness and tensile strength which are characteristic of certain of the synthetic resins presently known. Monofilaments of deniers below 15 mils do not have suflicient substance to permit the essential magnitude of these essential properties, provided, of course, that the resin selected is characterized by these three properties in the first instance.

The properties of good stiffness, resilience and tensile strength provide a strong self-supporting honeycomb weave defining the cushion fabric of this invention. This provides the support necessary to preclude crushing of the cushion fabric when it is exposed to the weight of a person and it will be sufliciently stable to resist diagonal shifting and collapsing. Filaments of this construction insure the maintenance of suflicient loft, or depth, in the cushion fabric, as well as better air circulation and overall performance.

The face fabric and the backing fabric, if the latter is utilized, are preferably of synthetic filaments of the same composition as those utilized in the cushion fabric and are preferably a ribbon monofilament, since better cover is thereby provided. The face fabric is interwoven with the cushion fabric periodically, e.g., at the apex of adjacent cells of the honeycomb weave of the cushion fabric, such that an integral unit is established and crushing, slippage, sliding, etc., one from the other is precluded. Actually, the integral tying of face and cushion fabric lends to a strengthening of the three dimensional cells of the honeycomb weave by adding a force, by virtue of the ties between the face and cushion fabrics at the apex of the cells of the latter, which resists the altering of the cells of the cushion fabric,

The low profile cushion described herein will provide an air ventilating cushion which will, when used for its designated purposes, provide the necessary air ventilation, resistance to wetting, and the low profile seating comfort not now available in conventional spring type cushions. Additionally, the low profile cushion defined herein offers many advantages over the coiled spring cushion, i.e., flexibility in conforming to seat contour, seating comfort, and removal of the damage factor caused by metal springs to mention a few.

While certain specific forms of the invention have herein been shown and described, various obvious changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A low profile ventilating cushion comprising a cushion fabric characterized by a warp and filling of synthetic filaments woven together to provide a waffle or honeycomb weave, the surface of said cushion fabric being provided with a waflie or honeycomb of ridges formed of warp and filling filament floats thereon, said ridges extending both along and across said cushion fabric with the centers of the individual ventilating cells of the waflle or honeycomb formed by said ridges being lower than the ridges thereof, thus providing three-dimensional depth to the cushion fabric, and a face fabricjoined to and covering one surface of said cushion fabric.

2. The cushion of claim 1 wherein said synthetic filaments are high denier synthetic monofilaments exhibiting a high degree of resilience.

3. The cushion of claim 1 wherein the warp and filling floats on the surface of the cushion fabric create a honeycomb of ridges in the form of squares with the centers of the squares being lower than the ridges.

4. The cushion of claim 1 wherein the warp and filling floats on the surface of the cushion fabric create a honeycomb of ridges in the form of rectangles with the centers of the rectangles being lower than the ridges.

5. The cushion of claim .1 wherein the warp and filling floats of the cushion fabric have their greatest float length at the surface thereof and gradually decrease in float length inwardly therefrom, whereby ventilating cells of a pyramidal shape are formed having apexes or centers lower than said warp or filling floats.

6. The cushion of claim 1 wherein a continuous pattern of alternating erect pyramidal ventilating cells and inverted pyramidal ventilating cells are formed, with the warp and filling floats on the surface of the cushion fabric forming the bases thereof and the centers of said cells being disposed inwardly from said warp and filling floats.

7. The cushion of claim 5 wherein the cushion fabric is secured to the face fabric at points represented by the apexes or centers of the pyramidal ventilating cells.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,063,067 11/1962 Morrison 5-350 3,123,838 3/1964 Wilson 5-347 BOBBY R. GAY, Primary Examiner A. M. CALVERT, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 7453 

